1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to educational games, and more particularly concerns a segmented storage box having a plurality of components with which words, sentences, and mathematical expressions may be constructed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous educational block and tile alphabet games have been disclosed in the prior art. Various boxes have been employed which provide convenient storage and transport as well as a playing surface for game pieces. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,789 to Pellerin discloses a board game having twenty-six segmented spaces, each adapted to contain a block inscribed with numbers or one each of the twenty-six characters in the English alphabet. The Pellerin game is played by matching tiles and blocks having corresponding characters, then removing the blocks from the segmented game board. U.S. Pat. No 5,139,271 to Bez discloses a word game played upon a segmented game board. The Bez game is played upon a color coded board upon which color blocks depicting alphabetic characters are withdrawn from a sectioned storage tray and placed upon the board to make words. U.S. Pat. No. 5,092,777 to Crowe discloses a set of blocks having alphabetic characters and indicia identifying succeeding and preceding characters. The Crowe game is played with a set of twenty six playing cards having alphabetic characters and point value indicia which are used to control play and tally a score.
Although the aforesaid games contain pieces having alphabetic and numeric indicia, they are not adapted to allow the construction of words, sentences and mathematical expressions. The Pellerin apparatus emphasizes the learning and recognition of alphabetic and numeric characters by simple matching. The Bez game emphasizes the spelling of words and vocabulary expansion by allowing the player to spell words, but does not teach mathematical expressions or sentence construction. The Crowe apparatus does not employ a segmented box which may be used for construction of sentences and mathematical expressions.
Other apparatus have been disclosed in the prior art which are not used in conjunction with tiles or blocks, but have segmented or folding cases which are used for storage and play. U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,954 to Hemmann discloses a portable game board assembly comprised of a pair of elongated tray elements hinged along one elongated side and open along that side between the hinge elements. The tray elements may be pivoted into a closed position to define a container. U.S. Pat. No. 5,028,048 to Watson et al. discloses a game carrying and playing device including a case having a top, bottom, front, back, and sides. The top includes a surface for supporting one or more game cards. The game box also includes a compartmentalized tray for holding game pieces and cards. None of the aforesaid patents disclose the use of segmented compartments which are used to organize blocks which display letters and numbers, or perform mathematical operations, or build words and sequences of words.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide an instructional kit of a game-like nature having a compartmentalized box containing play areas and storage areas for components of the kit.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a kit of the aforesaid nature having a plurality of cubic blocks having different alphabetic or numeric indicia on each side.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a kit of the aforesaid nature having segments of board area adapted to arrange said blocks in order to construct words, sentences and mathematical expressions.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a kit of the aforesaid nature which is simple to use, durable in construction and amenable to low cost manufacture.
These and other beneficial objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description.